the state of the Cow!Cat address
Recently I added Cow!Cat to catster and started reading a group there concerning feral cats. One post contained some info about a Trap-Neuter-Return program in Indiana, and I went to that program's website to try to find more regional information. Surfing through their links by several degrees led me to a local animal advocacy coalition. I left an email for them last night regarding Cow!Cat's situation, and a woman telephoned me today to discuss him.
The upshot is, it looks like there are resources available to help him with basic medical concerns, without my raiding Andrew's college fund. There is another feral advocacy group in Claymont Delaware (just over the state line) that does neutering and shots and other basic care for a very low fee - $25. I emailed them today, and a volunteer emailed me back saying he was forwarding my email to the group's leader so she could contact me with more info, but he thought they could definitely help out with Cow!Cat. They may even be able to lend me a humane trap - if it's even worth my time to drive down there and back to collect it. The woman from the local coalition advised just buying one at Home Depot, and then it would be available for any future situations we might have. So if the local HD carries such traps, that might be the way to go.
The other alternative is to buy one online, but then I'd have to wait for order processing and shipping. Then I just have to lure him with tuna, throw a sheet over the trap as if he's a birdie to calm him down once he's caught, and shlep him down to Claymont for the day. I imagine that might be a good day for me to plan a tax-free shopping jaunt. Then I'll have to figure a way to somehow keep him safe for a couple days while he recuperates from surgery and anesthesia - I might wind up just boarding him at my vet's.
So it seems I'm going to become a Mighty Cat-Trappin' Fiend in the near future. And then Cow!Cat will be sterile, vaccinated, de-parasited, tested for FIV and FeLV, and in theory would become (in the absence of testosterone) a milder-mannered and less roaming critter. The best-case scenario would be for the neutering to reduce his aggression and wild behaviour so much that he becomes adoptable, but if not he'll still be a far safer resident of our back yard than he is now - and he won't freak out Leo and Thomas quite so much when he doesn't reek of androgens. He also will be "ear-tipped", which involves cutting away the tip of his left ear to mark him as a registered, healthy, neutered feral cat, so whether he becomes a house pet or not, he won't be picked up - and disposed of- by Animal Control. Body mods for xtreme felines - what will they think of next? :)
Yes, I know. I really am becoming a Crazy Cat Lady. 'sokay. I always expected to. :)
The upshot is, it looks like there are resources available to help him with basic medical concerns, without my raiding Andrew's college fund. There is another feral advocacy group in Claymont Delaware (just over the state line) that does neutering and shots and other basic care for a very low fee - $25. I emailed them today, and a volunteer emailed me back saying he was forwarding my email to the group's leader so she could contact me with more info, but he thought they could definitely help out with Cow!Cat. They may even be able to lend me a humane trap - if it's even worth my time to drive down there and back to collect it. The woman from the local coalition advised just buying one at Home Depot, and then it would be available for any future situations we might have. So if the local HD carries such traps, that might be the way to go.
The other alternative is to buy one online, but then I'd have to wait for order processing and shipping. Then I just have to lure him with tuna, throw a sheet over the trap as if he's a birdie to calm him down once he's caught, and shlep him down to Claymont for the day. I imagine that might be a good day for me to plan a tax-free shopping jaunt. Then I'll have to figure a way to somehow keep him safe for a couple days while he recuperates from surgery and anesthesia - I might wind up just boarding him at my vet's.
So it seems I'm going to become a Mighty Cat-Trappin' Fiend in the near future. And then Cow!Cat will be sterile, vaccinated, de-parasited, tested for FIV and FeLV, and in theory would become (in the absence of testosterone) a milder-mannered and less roaming critter. The best-case scenario would be for the neutering to reduce his aggression and wild behaviour so much that he becomes adoptable, but if not he'll still be a far safer resident of our back yard than he is now - and he won't freak out Leo and Thomas quite so much when he doesn't reek of androgens. He also will be "ear-tipped", which involves cutting away the tip of his left ear to mark him as a registered, healthy, neutered feral cat, so whether he becomes a house pet or not, he won't be picked up - and disposed of- by Animal Control. Body mods for xtreme felines - what will they think of next? :)
Yes, I know. I really am becoming a Crazy Cat Lady. 'sokay. I always expected to. :)